NIGHT, I Rin [classic book list txt] 📗

snake and deserter!” Lica remarked acidly.

“Well... you will go far!” Isa said grimly.

“So it’s better to be friends than enemies,” the girl smiled. “Sit down, please!”

Man put the bread on a small low table and squatted beside. Angelica sat opposite him.

“Help yourself, Isa!” she pointed to food.

“It's not allowed!”

“Again?” she smiled. “What if the food is poisoned?”

The eyes of the man in a vest flashed, but then he removed a strip of cloth covering his face, and reeled it into his turban. Now Lica could see a handsome, young man with almond-shaped black eyes and dark skin. He took a grape and put it into his mouth.

“You see, the food is not poisoned!” he said.

The girl was staring at the young man. Isa got embarrassed and blushed.

“You are really handsome young man indeed, Isa!” finally, uttered Lica.

“Do not say such things!” asked the young man. “If the hakim knows, he does not like it!”

“How does he know?” asked the girl. “Did you tell him?”

She took a few grapes and put them in to her mouth.

“Tell me, how did you learn my language?” Lica asked him.

“I have been outside the mountains,” briefly replied the young man.

“Wow, how interesting! And, so have I; I came from the mountains!”

“I know. We haven’t got such... such...”

The young man got embarrassed and went silent.

“What?” asked him the girl.

“Such beautiful girl...” Isa said quietly.

“My name is Angelica!” smiled the captive.

“Why did you come to our country?”

“It's a long story! We're looking for a sorcerer who can control the elements.”

“What for?”

“In the Kingdom of Night, the old evil broke from bonds. It can destroy the whole kingdom! And Margo said that in order to stop it, we must find a sorcerer.”

The girl did not finish.

“Margo?” Isa raised his one eyebrow.

“Do you know her?” Lica asked.

The young man did not say anything.

“You're so mysterious, Isa,” said Angelica. “You are always silent and blushing.”

Young man got embarrassed again.

“I think I have to go!” he said.

She realized that if that guy leaves, she will never be free.

“Oh,” she said. “I feel dizzy! Isa, could you bring me some water!”

And Lica fell unconscious on the carpet next to the table. The scared man ran out of the tent and a minute later back with a big bowl of water in his hands. He rushed to Angelica, lifted her head and began to pour water into her mouth. The girl opened her eyes and slightly raising on her elbow, cuddled to Isa’s chest.

“Thank you!” she whispered. “You have saved my life!”

“How are you?” Isa said solicitously.

“I do not know, something wrong with my heart, I guess. Listen, it is beating loudly!”

She took his hand and put it to her chest. The young man bit his lip and tried to pull his hand away, but Lica didn’t let it.

“Can you hear that?” she asked. “Do not leave me alone, Isa! I don’t want to die! And your hakim will never forgive you, if something bad happens to me!”

The young man did not know what to say. He nodded, looking into Angelica’s eyes.

“Are you getting better?” finally he muttered.

“A little,” she whispered.

She sat down next to Isa, holding his hand.

“Isa,” she said slowly. “I do not want to become a woman of your hakim. He has enough wives! Besides, he is probably old and ugly!”

“He is a great warrior!”

“In love is not important who is a great warrior! In love the main thing is how much you attract each other!”

And Lica touched his cheek. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

“What are you doing?” he said quietly. “I would be killed if anyone ever found out what I had done!”

“You didn’t do anything,” Angelica smiled. “I did...”

She moved closer to the young man and took his turban off. Black curly hair tumbled down his shoulders.

“What a good-looking man you are, Isa!” whispered the girl, pulling him and kissing him passionately. The man couldn’t stem anymore. He completely gave up to Lica. Suddenly they heard shouts and hooting from afar.

Chance for survival

Isa sprang to his feet, put his turban on, straightened his clothes and ran out of the tent.

“Damn!” she murmured. “What a bummer! I will probably have to marry him!”

She sat down on the color poof waiting.

After some time two men and Isa came in to the tent, their faces were hidden under the cloth turbans. One of them, who were standing in front, said something in a strange language.

“My Hakim said that you should clear yourself before he touched you!” the young man translated. “Now you will go through ceremony with our shaman, and tonight you will become a woman of our lord.”

Lica was looking at Isa with horror, but the young man avoided looking at her. Then Isa and Hakim came out of the tent, and a man in a bright turban started to walk around the girl muttering something. He took a bowl of water, whispered something in her, and began to slush it over Angelica. Apparently, the ceremony was over, because “shaman” left the tent. Lica was desperate and did not know what to do.

In the evening the tent curtain opened and a forty-year- old, fat and ugly man came in. A wide scar went across his face.

He smiled and went to Angelica. She decided to die hard. Angelica stepped away from the man, but he suddenly lanced, knocking over the low table on the way and breaking a bowl standing on it. Then he seized Lica with both hands and threw her onto the carpet. Angelica tried to resist, but the forces were unequal. Hakim began greedily kissing the girl. With disgust Lica started grabbing everything that came to hand, and throwing in the man's face. Suddenly her hand found the large piece of bowl in which Isa had brought her water. Angelica took the splinter and with all her might forced it into the eye of the rapist. The Hakim wheezed and fell lifeless on the carpet.

At this point Isa with a dagger in his hand burst into the tent. He rushed to his Hakim, but realized that he had been already dead.

“God, I have killed man!” Lica could only say.

She was shocked. Isa helped her up and said:

“We must escape! Now! We have no time, Angelica. If anyone finds out, they'll kill us!”

He took Lica’s hand and, unseen, they slipped out of the tent. There were a dozen other tents around. A little further, around large fire, there were people in robes, loudly laughing at something. Isa took Lica some back-way and soon they disappeared behind the dunes. There a pair of horses was waiting for our heroes. The girl stared at the young man.

“I have prepared the escape,” explained Isa, “but was a little late, sorry!”

Then he helped Angelica to climb into the saddle, and jumped on his horse. The riders pulled the reins and raced away from the camp of the nomads. When they were quite far away, Lica asked:

“Isa, tell me why you decided to help me?”

“I liked you,” the man said truly. “Besides, you know Margo, and this woman means a lot to me!”

“How interesting!” Angelica exclaimed. “Tell me!”

“Not here and not now! Night is coming, and we cannot stay in the desert! It is dangerous!”

“Why?”

“There are many sand snakes in the desert. They discreetly hide under the sand then get to the lost traveler and swallow him.”

“And what are we going to do?” asked Lica, shivering.

“There is a shelter near here. My father has built it. There we can stay for a night! And in the morning we can continue our way!”

“And what’s about a chase? The Hakim’s people will not find us, will they?”

“They are afraid of Sand Snakes either!” Isa smiled.

It was quite dark. Suddenly the young man exclaimed:

“Over there!”

And spurred his horse… Ten minutes later, the riders arrived at the little oasis. It was a round meadow with three palms and a closed well between them. Isa dismounted, opened the well and gave water their horses. Then he closed the well and said:

“Another fifteen minutes, and we'll be there!”

“I thought that we would stay here,” sadly murmured Angelica.

“Oasis is too noticeable place to stay,” said the young man. “But we will leave our horses here; otherwise they will become the prey of the Sand Snakes! We will go on foot.”

Isa tied the horses to a palm tree in the center of the oasis, and our heroes were off again. The stars appeared in the sky, when, finally, the young man shouted:

“We're here!”

Lica looked around. In the light of the moon she could see only single dunes. Here and there the dry thorns and some snags poked out of the sand.

“I can see nothing!” the girl said.

The young man walked up to one of the snags and began to rake the sand around it. After some time, Angelica saw a trapdoor with the ring in the middle. The man pulled the ring and lifted the cover up.

“Come on!” he said and first went down into the trapdoor.

After a few minutes Lica saw the fire at the bottom and boldly followed her companion. When she went down the wooden stairs, she saw quite spacious room there. All its walls, floor and even the ceiling were covered with wooden planks. In the middle of the room there was a small table with the small burning lamp on it and two tiny chairs. The bag of biscuits and a large bottle of water were in the corner of the room. A thick layer of dry grass was banked near the wall.

“Please, sit down!” Isa smiled. “Not Sultan's chambers, but it is better than spending the night under the open sky.”

He climbed the wooden stairs and closed the trapdoor.

“Won’t we stifle?” Angelica worried.

“Do not worry, I have some vents here,” the young man said, pointing to a long dry hollow snag, going outside.

“And what about snakes, won’t they go through it?” asked the girl again.

“Sand Snakes? No! They are too big. And little ones don’t worry me; my dagger is always with me!” Isa laughed.

He took off his vest, turban and stayed in a shirt and baggy pants. Only now did Angelica notice that not the young man was good-looking, but also well built. She sat down on the straw.

“What a nice room, Isa!” she smiled.

“My father has built it,” said the young man. “And not did it save his life but now it came in handy to me. Angelica, do you want to eat? The water here is always fresh; I change it myself and the biscuits are nice too.”

“Okay, I’ll try your biscuits!” Lica laughed.

Isa pulled two bowls behind the bottle and poured some water. Then he took out some biscuits and put them on the table.

“Help yourself!” said the young man.

“Frankly saying, after all what has happened today, I feel terrible,” she shivered. “And it would be nice to have some food now!”

She took a couple of dry biscuits, soaked them in the water and started to eat. The young man was watching her with a smile.

“Isa,” Angelica turned to him, “tell me about yourself. How do you know Margo? And why did you save me?”

The young man thought a little then said:

“I was born in the family of a rich merchant. My parents loved each other and me too. But one day a grief came to our family. My mother was very ill. We invited many doctors, but she was getting worse and worse. Father left his business because he had to stay close to my mother. We had sold all goods and didn’t have any money. Doctors stopped coming to my mother. And then someone told me that over the mountains in the Kingdom of Night, a great sorceress Margo lived, and that she could heal my mother. Without saying anything to my father, I set off a dangerous journey. I walked many days and nights until I reached the cave of the sorceress. But I could not tell her why I came because I did